"Charter Schools" A Ruse For Destroying Public Education?

2017: with the Trump nomination of a charter school advocate for Secretary of Education this should be considered.

Virginia political/religious leaders have vowed to destroy secular public education in America. Their tools for doing this are school vouchers and charter schools.

While Virginia has approved charter schools, it's proponents are dismayed they have to follow the same standards, including the Virginia SOL, as the public schools. Their intention was never education, but the removal of science and history and substitution of religious myth.

They also demand to use uncertified teachers and to be exempted from all civil rights laws including ADA regulations for the handi-capped. (religious institutions are already exempt.) Fortunately, vouchers were overwhelmingly defeated in November in California and Michigan. In fact, Washington County, Virginia has approved charter schools, but has had no takers because the fundamentalists didn't want to operate as schools. Now Tennessee has gotten into the act. But the almost 50% drop-out rate in the state has nothing to do with schools. It's family priorities. Here is the fundamentalist' agenda is in their words in 1995:

Coalition called to eliminate schools

Raleigh, North Carolina - "We must eliminate public education as it is
structured today and reinvent it in a new form," according to Roxane
Premont, director of the North Carolina Education Reform Foundation
(NCERF). If successful, the "new form" of public education will
ultimately result in private religious schools paid for by taxpayer
money.

Premont addressed Christian Coalition members in a Saturday afternoon
workshop at the annual Road to Victory conference last September in
Washington, DC. Literature outlining the plan to eliminate public
education was distributed during a workshop called "Vouchers and Tax
Credits - It's Time for Parents to Choose."

The first step in the proposed plan is to establish charter schools,
which are, according to Premont, "public schools that operate
independently of local school district jurisdiction and operate much
like private schools."

According to NCERF literature: "Charter schools will provide a pool of
independent schools that can readily be converted to private schools
to meet increased demand for private education once voucher laws are
passed. Charter schools that are converted into private schools will
be initiated by those persons who want religious education.

"With charters the money goes directly from the state to the charter
school. With vouchers it goes directly to parents who then take it to
the school.

"What is called for is an incremental strategy that helps acclimatize
the public to school choice readying them for phase 2 - vouchers.
Converting all current existing public schools to charter schools is
the necessary transition. The creation of large numbers of charter
schools will weaken our union-led opposition - giving us the chance of
passing vouchers."

Senate OKs charter school legislation

The Associated Press, 6-26-02

NASHVILLE - The Senate
voted 30-to-1 Wednesday for a bill
authorizing charter schools in Tennessee that supporters hope will
provide better options for students
who are failing or are assigned to
low-performing schools.

The only senator to vote against
the bill, Democrat Thelma Hayer
of Nashville, said, "It's a bad idea to
take public dollars and put them in
private hands when we know the
public schools can use the money.

But Sen. Jeff Miller, R-Cleveland,
said that's not what the legislation
does. "We need to infuse the notion of
competition into the public school
system.

These students need to go
to schools that won't fail them," he
said. "We're just sending that
money to the school they choose to
go to. It's their choice."

Charter. schools are publicly
funded schools that are given
greater flexibility in exchange for greater
accountability in improving student performance.

The legislation would allow failing public schools to be converted to
charter schools and it would let universities create them for students
who are at risk of failing or drop-
ping out. A small number of schools
could also be created to meet the
needs of disabled students.

The "charter" allowing teachers,
parents or a nonprofit organization
to establish such a school is a contract with the local school board
setting out goals, proposed instructional methods, a budget, policies
for governance and other details.

Charter schools would have to
meet or exceed the performance
standards as those set for other
public schools.

They are subject to
all federal and state laws. prohibiting discrimination and must
comply with health and safety standards.

Senators defeated an effort by
Lincoln Davis, D-Pall Mall, to prevent the bill from
going into effect unless the state
fully funds the Basic Education
Program - the formula through
which most public dollars are distributed to local schools.

Sen. Roscoe Dixon, D-Memphis,
said that would upset the delicate
balance of compromise on the bill.

The House, which had earlier
passed a version of the bill, must
consider changes made by the
Senate before it becomes law.

The key difference is that the
House version would exempt the
schools from most rules and regulations that regular public schools
operate under, while the Senate
version would require charter
school applicants to ask permission
for each rule or regulation they
want waived.

The bill would not allow for-profit
companies, private schools or
church schools to sponsor charter
schools. It requires all charter
school teachers to be certified.

There are now more than 2,400
charter schools in 34 states and the
District of Columbia.